And therein it is no different than the rating system. It would still be abused - referring more on friends' stories thereby causing other stories to get ignored. We've even had cases of authors on site creating separate profiles in order to rec their own works, boosting their review counts leaving accolades, bumping rates, etc.
You are correct that there is no perfect system. I do like the idea of knowing how many times a story has been recommended. I also like knowing the identity of those who recommended it - not because it outs their interests (because if I'm looking, I'm interested too, right?), but because I know I share interests in writing style and composition with some users that I don't share with others, even if we read in the same sections.
I also know that if something's tagged BDSM and it's recommended by pittwitch, then it's got material in it that's reliable - because I know she knows her BDSM. Same with Bronx. But if it's recommended by someone whose BDSM stories have made me cringe and run for the hills due to their inaccuracies, then I know I'm probably not going to like it.